


Last Time

by angeredthoughts



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Civil War (Marvel), but it is the beginning of healing, this is not a get back together story, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-06-10 10:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6953704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeredthoughts/pseuds/angeredthoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So this hasn't been finished, but as it stands, I am unsure of where to go. There are possibilities. </p><p><a href="http://angeredthoughts.tumblr.com">My Tumblr</a>!</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DancingForRain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingForRain/gifts).



They came with his shield. Steve stared in shock as the others gathered around and stared. There had never been a moment in his life that was silent as this, but even he couldn’t think of what to say.

“I can’t believe he did it…” Natasha murmured her voice loud in the silence. She had warned them weeks ago it was a possibility. Vision had even come with her, joining their little underground group.

On display was a newspaper, declaring the Avengers Initiative over. Tony Stark was quoted directly several times, stating clearly that with absence of the rest of the team there was no point in trying to continue the effort. There were questions about what was to be done in a crisis that Tony had apparently shrugged off and told everyone to ask someone else.

The second half of the page was dedicated to the end of Stark Industries. There was no bankruptcy or anything like that; Tony had sold the patents of most his commonly used creations and shut down his part in the business. It had been done in such a way that there were almost no loss of jobs but it was still a sucker punch to the world. No one had suspected such a thing was going to happen.

Neither story held a candle to the papers in Steve’s hand. Divorce papers, declaring his union with Tony Stark over; he wasn’t sure what to feel about the entire thing. He lifted his head and saw everyone was shuffling around uncomfortably, but they were still there with him. He took a deep breath and leaned over the papers, picking up the pen that had come with them. Carefully he scrawled his name next to Tony’s before leaning back and watching the woman who’d delivered them collect them once more and leave.

Clint broke the silence, “Well, now what do we do?”

\---

Four years later

\---

Steve dropped to his knees and then flipped onto his back, uncaring for the scene he was creating, he just needed to rest. Two bodies dropped down beside him and did the same. He chuckled softly and turning his head to look at the small one to his left, “You good?”

Clint rubbed his head and nodded, “Yeah, just y’know, tired.” He explained, “It’s been three days. You’d think it would’ve stopped sooner.”

From his other side, Bucky spoke up, “Still not sure what happened just now though. They were pretty determined to take the planet.”

Shaking his head, Steve rubbed his face before forcing himself up. He reached down and pulled up Clint as Bucky rolled to his feet. He looked over to where Natasha was working with Wanda to calm Bruce down. Sam was in the air with Peter and Vision, looking for any stragglers and civilians. Thor… “Anyone got a 20 on Thor?”

Startled looks met his question before everyone was looking around, shocked. Normally they would all be listening to Thor’s after battle proclamations; it wasn’t as if no one could hear the guy. Even when they were all exhausted and ready to just collapse for a few hours, they could hear Thor. He was just loud; but today there was nothing. The battle was over and no one had any idea where the guy was. Worry built as a burst of fear filled adrenaline shot through Steve. He jerked around, intending to head back to the last known location he’d received over the ‘coms when the wind picked up.

Lifting his head, he stared in surprise. Thor landed carefully and the others gathered around; carefully keeping their distance but in just as much shock as he was. In Thor’s arms was armour they hadn’t seen in years. It was dented, twisted and there was a strange covering of frost over it, but they all knew this armour. Gold looked rusted and the red gleamed uncomfortably wet in the light; the light for the reactor was out and the faceplate was dark.

Iron Man hung in Thor’s arms, powerless and for all they knew, dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this hasn't been finished, but as it stands, I am unsure of where to go. There are possibilities. 
> 
> [My Tumblr](http://angeredthoughts.tumblr.com)!


	2. Chapter 2

James Rhodes glared fiercely from where he was being held. Clint had him in hand, but Steve was still holding a bloody nose. Everyone was tense and on the verge of fighting, which was the last thing Steve wanted. Shaking his head, he wiped his face with the towel he was handed and motioned for Clint to release the man.

To his credit, he didn’t try to attack again, but he still looked like he was contemplating the easiest way to end them all. Rhodey sat down, as far away from them as he could and stared silently. No one was sure what to say. They had called him as soon as they could and they’d met him in the debriefing room, but he’d been angrier then anyone expected. None of them had thought he’d be angry, actually; they’d expected the same level of confusion as they were experiencing.

“Why the fuck did you sign them, you giant fucking asshole?”

Jerking in surprise, Steve stared, “It’s what he wanted… He’d already signed them.”

“Did you read them?”

“…No.”

“Did you look past the title of the document?”

“…No.”

By then the rest of the team was just watching them. There was heavy confusion in the air as the two sided conversation progressed further. Steve felt a chill in his spine though, because he hadn’t read the papers. He hadn’t even considered it. The title had been all he needed; Tony wanted a divorce so he gave it to him.

Rhodey snorted, “So you have no idea you literally signed away Tony forever? That if you’d read the document, you would’ve found he sent those papers because it was the only way no one would’ve looked twice at them. He asked if you still loved him in there, Rogers, he asked if you wanted to him to join you. And you ripped his heart out by just signing them. He gave up his life for you and you threw him away.”

Silence echoed; it was strange since there was no sound, but he felt as if everything was echoing. It took several moments before he realized Bucky was shaking him, demanding he breathe. The others had left the room, leaving him alone with his oldest friend and Tony’s oldest friend. Steve opened his eyes, unaware he’d closed them, and tried to focus on Bucky.

It took a few more seconds before he understood what he was being told to do, but he took a deep breath and fell forward. He clung to Bucky and felt his hand rub at his back. He still didn’t know what Tony had been doing all these years or even how he’d ended up in the fight; at that moment, he only cared that he’d not paid attention and had ruined their lives.

“You should’ve read them, Steve,” Rhodes offered softly, “He was devastated.”

“I was pretty devastated to receive the papers… I didn’t even think to read them. I saw he wanted a divorce and gave it to him… I just,” he took a breath and glanced up, pulling away from Bucky a little, “I figured he’d had enough.”

Before the conversation could go any further, the door opened and they all looked up as the team came back in. Steve pulled back and Bucky settled beside him. Rhodes sat down as Natasha came to a stop at the head of the table. She set a folder down and barely gave it a glance before speaking, “It seems Iron Man managed to avoid being detected because he installed new stealth technology into his suit. None of us could see him but it seems the invaders were somehow aware of him. They obviously took offence to him attacking,” she paused and looked at them all, “You saw the results of that. It seems though that he’d been their hostage for at least a day… we don’t know what happened during that time.”

“So we don’t know what happened, how he ended up like that or anything… when will we get answers?” Clint asked suddenly.

No one had an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..Still have no idea if he's dead or not.


	3. Chapter 3

It took two days for them to learn what had happened. It had been dizzying and overwhelming. When it was all gathered and looked at, everyone joined Steve in feeling like the scum of the earth.

After disappearing from the presses, Tony had apparently hired himself a counsellor. He’d worked through his troubles while working on helping the world, discreetly. He’d rebuilt places that had once been destroyed by his weapons and helped create clean energy for places that didn’t normally have the resources to do so by themselves. He’d worked quietly with the U.N. to create a proper protocol for the various heroes who just wanted to save the world.

The last four years of Tony’s life had been filled with work and it paid off. The causalities of the invasion were much lower then Vision had estimated when it began; all because the authorities were taught how to evacuate and told to pay attention. There had been less confusion because of the training Tony had helped fund. It had blown Natasha away, who’d still believed Tony cared more for himself then anyone else.

Clint and Scott had been dumbfounded to find out Tony had taken care of their children as well; paying for their schooling and medications when they got sick. They had finally been able to contact them and learned everything. Tony had even visited once in awhile, earning him the firm title of ‘Uncle’ from Cassie.

All of it paled in learning how Tony had come to be the way he’d been found. He’d first made sure the civilians were being evacuated properly before going after the largest ships. It hadn’t taken much for the creatures to capture him. They hadn’t been able to pry him from the armour so they had tried to force him to relinquish it. They had crushed, stabbed and heated it to no avail. Tony had refused to leave and had, eventually, managed to destroy enough of the ship to escape. The destruction of the ship had led to a catastrophic failure and the entire armada had collapsed.

Thor had translated for them, telling them it had been Iron Man they had feared; he’d been the one who had flown through the nuke all those years ago. They had come to destroy him and his planet; fearing the people of earth would send another weapon through a portal again. They learned, after they had gathered what information was left over, that the bomb had caused problems around planets close to it. It had been eerily similar to when Tony had created Ultron.

Steve sat beside the bed that held his ex-husband. Tony was due to wake up, they were all certain of it, he was just too stubborn not to; yet everyone feared he wouldn’t. It had taken the creation of a schedule to calm them from all camping in his room. There was no denying they all had some apologizing to do but Steve probably had the most to do. He had ended everything based on the title of some papers. Of course it made sense he would but he still hated himself for not at least reading them through.

“I’ll make it up to you Tony…” he murmured, staring at the still figure before him, “I just hope you’ll let me.”

The only answer he received was the beep of the heart monitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's all I could think of. But honestly if someone wants to run away with this, go for it. I really couldn't figure out where else to go buuut I also couldn't actually kill Tony. So. yeah.


End file.
